Sunday, 28 March 2010

Sorry for the lack of posts just lately, but have had a bit of a spurt on the old modelling front, plus i've been getting through a few novels so comic reading has been minimal.Also been tied up making a new Blog.Its dawned on me that, with showing films being my profession and watching them a hobby, why not have a whittle on about them?Expect rants both for and against, plus the odd anecdote from this here Projectionist lark:

Wednesday, 10 March 2010

Here it is then, never seen before anywhere before, sorry about the wait. The teaser i'd put up was a zoom-in on the face of the rough of this final image.You might recall me saying i've an ambition to have modern artists do their take on The Black Max, my favourite 70's comic character.I've already got one by Chris Weston and now Dom Reardon has very kindly given up time to do his version.Dom was top of my list to have a go as he's a proven master of the B&W supernatural strip with his brilliant work on 2000AD's Caballistics Inc and couldn't wait to see what he'd comne up with.LOVE it.The face has just such a great menacing look to it, the way he's done the break in the clouds is brilliant, the moon framing the plane is top notch and the bats - superb.Well chuffed with it.

Monday, 8 March 2010

It HAD to be this. The remit of the choices was for stand out images, moments from a strip that were so powerful that they've stayed with me over the (far too many) years and stand as symbols of that story.Action had been going for quite a while before McNally reaches his demise and had been delivering shockingly graphic scenes week in and week out.If i was becoming used to them i certainly don't remember it but, if i was, this panel sure would've got me back to square one again.In the previous panels the Chief was trying his best to hold Hookjaw's mouth open, confident that he could still beat the beast.Of course he couldn't and it was only a matter of time before he tired and the sharks jaws closed.And close they did - and how.To have all the limbs fly off like that was an audacious piece of storytelling (would love to know if it was in the script or the artist going for it) and neatly sums up the uniqueness of the comic. Where ever have you seen anything like that - in comics or film - either then or now?A brilliant, brilliant panel that sums up everything that was great and different and joyous to the 14 year-old me.And that's why its Number One.

Sunday, 7 March 2010

In the 24th April 1971 edition, we finally get to see how come Wilson never spotted Max's castle before, even though he'd flown over the area only a couple of issues ago with no sign of it - "It's not a real island at all! Just earth and vegetation on some kind of steel platform... and transported by airships!"Bonkers. Aside from how the heck you'd go to all that trouble of building a castle on a bunch of zepplins, there's also why, in that it served no purpose, being totally blown up a few weeks later.But, we're talking early 70's boys comics, and logic had flown out the window long before.

Awwww... Bless 'im.There he is, captured by the Inca Empire, bound by ropes of gold making him weak and vulnerable, elects to be stabbed in the chest so that the ropes are cut, then jumps off the temple with fake wings attached, to prove he's their God.Does a couple of circuits before crashing to the ground in a truely It's A Knockout fashion.Yep, he's English alright.

Just got the 20th March 1971 edition of Lion & Thunder, which is the first issue of the combined titles. Because of that, all the strips have to have retellings of their origins for the readers of the opposite comic.Which has made for some nice bringing up to speed and start of new tales for all the strips. The fact that they do so in the space of just 2 or 3 pages is a testiment to the talent of the writers.With Adam Eterno you also get top notch art. Never seen him looking better or moodier. Could do without the cherubic pre-curse version though...Black Max is equally good, with the added bonus of Von Kloor living on the (rather obvious) Black Island, the significance of which won't be revealed for a few weeks.

About Me

Born '62, growing old but not up. Ex-Projectionist.
Fan of decent film, especially 50's SF, Universal and Hammer horrors, the shorts of Laurel & Hardy. Love the British boys comics i grew up on, special effects in any form, history, mythology, fantasy and cheese.